Papua (Irian Jaya)

Irian Jaya is Indonesia's "wild east". Much of it was still unexplored by outsiders as recently as the 1930s.

The Dutch began serious exploration in about 1898. After the Indonesians
defeated the Dutch in 1949 and 1950, the Dutch insisted on keeping
Irian Jaya. They finally gave up the colony in 1963, under a combination
of military and diplomatic pressure. In 1969, a UN-sponsored
referendum of village elders led to Irian Jaya becoming a province of
Indonesia. Since that time, more noticeably since the late 1970s, there have been
separatist movements seeking to make Irian Jaya an independent country,
particularly the OPM or "Organisasi Papua Merdeka" guerilla group.

Under the Dutch in the 1930s, Irian Jaya or West New Guinea was a place to which many
political prisoners were sent. Mohammed Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, nationalist leader
who were later major figures in the independence struggle, were sent to the Boven Digul
prison camp in the southeast of the region.

Jayapura is the main city. It was formerly called
Hollandia by the Dutch. Allied (American and Australian) forces
passed through here in 1944 on the way to the reconquest of the Philippines.